14 DAY TRIAL // Market observers talking to Apple’s partners overseas say the iPad 3 won’t be launched until next year, but production is set to commence as early as October, this year.
These sources indicated to CENS.com that most of the current iPad suppliers will remain on board, give or take a company that Apple has been fighting in court lately, successfully banning the sale of their smartphones and tablet computers in several territories around the globe.
In other words, Samsung appears to be squeezed out of Apple’s display panel supply chain, with Sharp expected to set up a new production line specifically for the Cupertino company.
LG Display will be providing most of the panels, while Taiwan’s Radiant Opto-Electronics Corp., a backlight module producer, has already been certificated by Apple to provide the light behind the iPad 3’s HD display.
Hon Hai Precision will continue to be the primary assembly partner, while Wintek will be carrying some of that ‘burden’ as well.
Part of Apple’s contract orders for power management ICs used for display panels of iPad 3 has been obtained by Richtek Technology Corp., a Taiwanese IC designer, according to the report.
Integrated Memory Logic Ltd. (IML), a fab-less semiconductor foundry, will supply integrated P-Gamma/DVR/VCOM chips exclusively to Apple, the sources added.
Taiwanese electronic producer Pegatron Corp. is “believed to be selected as Apple’s second iPad assembler,” the sources said. However, the move has been confirmed by other industry sources for quite some time now.
Apple is believed to plan a reduction of dependence on Hon Hai’s Foxconn tablet assembly division to stabilize shipment of iPad 3.
The report recalls the explosion occurring at one of Foxconn’s plants earlier this year affecting iPad 2 production. The sources indicated that although iPad 3 assembly will kick off in a couple of months, the third-generation tablet won’t become physically available to the public until early next year.